History
The Hampshire Football League was formed in 1896 to provide an organised fixture schedule for clubs within the county. [1]
The inaugural campaign saw eight teams taking part with the first ever fixture being played on Saturday 5 September 1896 between Eastleigh Athletic and Freemantle, who won a thrilling match 5–4 with a player called Inglefield scoring the first ever goal! The first-ever league champions were Cowes. [2]
Originally administered by the Hampshire Football Association, the fledgling competition was initially split into regional sections with an end of season play off to decide the champions, but numbers grew and eventually the league formed three larger divisions with straight forward promotion/relegation. [3]
The post-war era saw the Hampshire League at its prime, [4] consisting consisting of many strong clubs destined to later progress further up the pyramid whilst the Reserve and ‘A’ sides of Southampton, [5] Portsmouth, [6] Bournemouth, [7] Reading [8] and Aldershot also took part for many years. The strength of the league was well indicated by the performances of its clubs in national cup competitions. [9]
By 1986, most of the top clubs had become semi-professional and left to join the newly formed Wessex League. [10] Along with their Dorset and Wiltshire counterparts, the Hampshire League became a feeder in a revised pyramid system.
To keep pace with the modern ground grading criteria, in 1999 the top-flight was renamed as the Premier Division, for which only clubs with the required facilities were allowed entry. [11] However, this was only delaying the inevitable, as in 2004 it was agreed to dissolve the competition and become part of the expanding Wessex League. [12] Vosper Thornycroft were the last champions.
The Hampshire League 2004 [13] was subsequently formed by those opposed to the merger. Then, in 2007 clubs unable to meet the Wessex League criteria formed the Hampshire Premier League, [14] which with slightly stricter ground requirements, was granted "Step 7" status on the modern FA pyramid system. The two leagues remained separate until finally amalgamating in 2013 to form the present day two tier competition.
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